cake making king
by rainy-lullaby
Summary: Even a pink, white, strawberry filled cake can bring those two together. Happy Birthday Orihime Inoue!


**NAME:** Princess Protecting, Strawberry Colored, Cake Making King.

**DISCLAIMER:** Tite Kubo owns Bleach.

**AN:** Happy Birthday Orihime! And I love Ichigo's new look…amazing what hair can do!

* * *

The smell of strawberries and vanilla filled the small kitchen. There was frosting smeared over the counter tops with crushed berries smeared in the white cream. The grunts of Ichigo Kurosaki echoed in the tiny room, the tangerine colored man stirred the bowl of cake mix roughly. He wanted to make it perfect. Ichigo's little sister, Yuzu, smiled warmly as she watched her beloved brother make a small cake. It was so cute and sweet how he tried to hard sometimes.

"Ich-nee? Do you need any help?" The young girl asked her big brother. Ichigo flashed a fake, toothy smile to her.

"No Yuzu, I'm fine…didn't know how hard it was to damn fuc- darn cake!" Ichigo yelled, quickly censoring himself around his little sister. He ran a cake-mixed free hand through his long orange hair, pulling a bit at the roots.

"I think it's so sweet that you're doing this for Orihime-chan!" Yuzu exclaimed making the substitute Shinigami blushed, as he tried to brush off his sister's remark.

"She always does sweet things for me, so why not?" He said images of his dear auburn haired, curvy friend. _'Shake it off!'_ Ichigo yelled to himself mentally.

Ichigo quickly checked the time of the oven, seeing 10:30 pm in flashing red. He smiled to himself, knowing he had more than enough time.

"Now where is the pink food dye?"

* * *

Cozy in her yellow pajamas with pink strawberries printed on them, Orihime Inoue sat on her couch with a warm cup of honey tea. Tomorrow was her birthday, another year older and another great reason to pig out to sweet potatoes and red bean paste. The TV was on and was playing romance movies all day, her favorite. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a messy bun with her two periwinkle pins pulled her bangs back. As soon as she began to get comfortable and sink into her orange colored couch, Orihime head a loud bang that could have been a knock. She popped out of her sit and rushed to the door, picking out of the tiny hole. All she could see was long orange hair that was all too familiar. She opened the door and greeted her hero.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun! I thought you were the little blue men for a second!" She exclaimed, trying to hide a upcoming blush. Ichigo lightly laughed and tightly gripped the small pink box.

"Hi Inoue, can I come in?" He asked with boyish grin with little confidence behind it. Orihime smiled and moved aside to enter Orihime's home, removing his shoes and jacket.

"So what brings you here so late?" As much as she loved his company, she was befuddled of why he would come to her house so late.

"Well I waited to be the first to say Happy Birthday to you." He said with a sincere smile. Orihime blushed and smiled big. She knew how big his heart was but it amazed her of how sweet he could be. Her big grey eyes followed to a clock to see 11:58 pm was the current time. She noticed the small pink box in his hands with a white envelope taped to it. Ichigo noticed her wandering eyes on his gift.

"Oh! T-this is you!" He said, shoving the box in her hands. Orihime took it happily lifting the top a bit to only have it smacked down.

"Wait! Hold on…"

_55…56…57…58...59…60… 12:00 AM_

"Happy Birthday, Inoue." He said with a smile and hooded gaze, making the healer blush a sweet shade of pink. He motioned for her to open it which she did with the same excitement she had when he entered her home. She carefully opened the box to see a small rounded white and pink cake with chucks of strawberries. Ichigo felt a fit of delight inside him as she happily squeaked.

"Oh Kurosaki-kun! Where did you get this?" She asked, making his smile drop a bit. Was it that hard to believe that he could bake?

"I-I made it myself, Inoue." He said with awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Orihime blushed and almost felt little tears well up. He worked on this perfect cake just for _her_.

"Oh my, thank you so much! I really love it. It's so perfect, I'm afraid to cut it!" She exclaimed, placing the cake on her counter.

"Then let me." He said, brushing past her to grab two plates, a knife and two forks. Ichigo carefully cut two slices of Inoue's birthday cake. He made sure she got the part of the cake that said "Inoue" in pink frosting. After getting their slices, he lightly grabbed her hand to drag her to the couch. Orihime blushed at the contact between her and her knight in shining armor (or black robes). Even with everlasting battle scares, his hands were surprisingly soft. After sitting down, they began to dig into their cakes.  
"Thank you so much for this, Kurosaki-kun!" She yelped with tiny bits of vanilla covered strawberries. Ichigo smiled, reaching over with a napkin to clean up her face. He brushed over her soft pink lips, feeling his heartbeats go completely erratic. Orihime blushed but didn't move at all, enjoying the touch of his finger tips.

"Kurosaki-kun…?" She quietly asked. Ichigo realized what he was doing and panicked abit. He quickly pulled his hands back, smiling nervously.

"I'm s-so sorry about that!" He yelled, earning a light giggle. Ichigo was trying to explain why he was touching her until he felt frosting being smeared under his nose. Orihime laughed out loud as she continued to eat her cake.

"Ya think yer' funny, don't you?" He said, dipping his cake and reached over to Orihime. She squeaked and tried to run away but was stopped but Ichigo's strong grip. Feeling the cake mix smeared on her pale cheek. Hearing Ichigo's rare laughter, she turned around with a cute scowl on her face. The Shinigami's laughter seized when he felt frosting and strawberry over his lips. The two turned quiet as they realized what they were doing.  
"Ya wanna get this off?" Ichigo asked, pointing to his lips. Orihime happily nodded and slowly approached him. The Shinigami grinned and leaned down to meet her.

Warm pink lips met cake covered lips. Both their knees bucked abit at their contact. They've waiting for this moment for a long time. Dying just for the smallest fiery touch to bring them satisfaction. Orihime brought a hand to a sun-kissed cheek and placing another to his board chest. Ichigo pulled her closer to him, bringing his hands around her. Her warm tongue darted out to lick the frosting off. Their little moment that felt like it could go on and go on was brought to a halt when they two had to breathe.

"How long have we wanted to do that?" Ichigo asked. Orihime blushed and danced her fingers on his chest.  
"A while, I suppose…I'm s-s-sorry if you-"A tanned finger pushed against her lips. Ichigo grinned at her. He decided to be bold tonight and pulled her into his grip on her couch.

"Happy birthday, again…" He whispered. The young healer smiled and dipped in for another kiss. She pulled a blanket over them as she curled into her hero.

"The best birthday ever, thank you." Orihime whispered against his chest. The newly found couple watched the marathon of romance movies and enjoying the silent company. The substitute Shinigami and the god-like healer fell asleep while snuggling into each other. The faint scent of strawberries filled the warm room, making their sleep even more peaceful.

* * *

The morning sun lighted up against the couple's faces. Orihime's big grey eyes opened up slightly; first thing she saw was the shirt Ichigo was wearing last night. Last night. The memory of last night filled her mind. She didn't know if she ever blushed so hard. Orihime gently removed herself from his strong grip to sketch out. She noticed the white envelope by the cake box. _"Oh no, I didn't open it! How rude of me"_

Orihime's thin fingers lightly tore up the letter. She pulled out the tore notebook paper and a photo that came with it. On the letter had Ichigo's messy handing writing and doodles.

"_Have an amazing birthday, Inoue"_

Orihime smiled when she saw drawings of strawberries and Orihime's hair clips around the words. She picked up the picture to see Ichigo with a mad face, with frosting over his cheeks, stirring a big bowl. Orihime turned the picture over to see a delicate script.

"_Our gift to you, happy birthday Orihime-chan!_

_From Yuzu and Karin!"_

Orihime giggled lightly, and looked back at her superman. His big heart makes every moment better. Her strawberry colored, cake making, hollow fighting, superman makes every day, birthdays too, so much for fun.

"I swear to God, if Yuzu and Karin put that damn photo in there, I'm gonna _kill _them." Ichigo muttered in his sleepily voice.

* * *

**My first try at Ichihime! It's later and I need bed, nightienigtie!**


End file.
